Reinhard Goerner, who represents Acoustic Signature, Trigon Elektronik, the Funk Firm, and Audio Physic was riding herd on two rooms in the Atrium. My favorite of the two featured products from every one of those lines.
Working back from the Audio Physic Avantera Plus speakers ($28,000), we saw a Trigon Epilog integrated amplifier ($13,000) loaded with a phono preamp (an extra $1500) and a DAC board (another $1700). Digital in the room was usually played from the Trigon Chronolog music server ($9500), which sounded more than a bit better than the snap-in DAC in every way.
What really made the room work for me, though, was the Acoustic Signature WOW turntable ($1600). This is AS’s new deck, and its nine pound platter offers a surprising amount of the solidity of their larger tables. Here, fitted with a Funk FX-R arm and a Dynavector 20XL cartridge for a total price of less than $5,000, it was the cheapest source in the room.
But what a source!
Listening to Oregon’s “Crossings” brought home just how much of the Acoustic Signature DNA is actually present in their little table. The soundstage, already a strength in this room, became wholly immersive as Ralph Towner’s guitar floated out. As far as detail went, I didn’t get any sense that the texture of Collin Walcott’s tabla was missing, with the nuance of the skin readily apparent. Flute and piano were also well served, with only the slightest hint that the WOW may be a bit less unstoppable than its bigger brothers.
This was probably one of the most balanced rooms I heard at RMAF. Even the digital sounded good. Still, my strongest impression was just how serious a contender that little Acoustic Signature WOW is.
